German phonology
The phonology of Standard German is the standard pronunciation or accent of the German language. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof as well as the geographical variants and the influence of German dialects. While the spelling of German is officially standardised by an international organisation (the Council for German Orthography) the pronunciation has no official standard and relies on a de facto standard documented in reference works such as Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch (German Pronunciation Dictionary) by Eva-Maria Krech et al.,Pages 1-2 of the book (Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch) discuss "die Standardaussprache, die Gegenstand dieses Wörterbuches ist" (the standard pronunciation which is the topic of this dictionary). It also mentions "Da sich das Deutsche zu einer plurizentrischen Sprache entwickelt hat, bildeten sich jeweils eigene Standardvarietäten (und damit Standardaussprachen)" (German has developed into a pluricentric language separate standard varieties (and hence standard pronunciations)), but refers to these standards as "regionale und soziolektale Varianten" (regional and sociolectal variants). Duden 6 Das Aussprachewörterbuch (Duden volume 6, The Pronunciation Dictionary) by Max Mangold and the training materials of radio and television stations such as Westdeutscher Rundfunk and Deutschlandfunk. This standardised pronunciation was invented, rather than coming from any particular German-speaking city; however, it is closest to the German spoken in Hanover. Standard German is sometimes referred to as Bühnendeutsch (stage German), but the latter has its own definition and is slightly different.Differences include the pronunciation of the endings ''-er'', ''-en'', and ''-em''. Vowels s of standard German, from . The nasalized vowels appear only in loanwords.]] Monophthongs Some scholarsSee the discussion in treat as an unstressed allophone of . Likewise, some scholars treat as an allophone of the unstressed sequence . The phonemic status of is also debated - see below. :Notes * Close vowels ** is close front unrounded .See the vowel charts in . ** is close near-front rounded . Its rounding is compressed. ** is close back rounded . Its rounding is protruded. ** has been variously described as near-close front unrounded , near-close near-front unrounded and somewhat lowered near-close near-front unrounded . ** has been variously described as near-close near-front rounded and somewhat lowered near-close near-front rounded . Its rounding is compressed. ** has been variously described as near-close near-back rounded and near-close back rounded . Its rounding is protruded. * Mid vowels ** is close-mid front unrounded . *** In non-standard accents of the Low German speaking area, as well as in some Bavarian and Austrian accents it may be pronounced as a narrow closing diphthong . ** has been variously described as close-mid near-front rounded and mid near-front rounded . Its rounding is compressed. *** In non-standard accents of the Low German speaking area, as well as in some Austrian accents it may be pronounced as a narrow closing diphthong . ** is close-mid back rounded . Its rounding is protruded. *** In non-standard accents of the Low German speaking area, as well as in some Austrian accents it may be pronounced as a narrow closing diphthong . ** is mid central unrounded . It occurs only in unstressed syllables, for instance in b'''e'setz'e'''n ('occupy'). It is often considered a complementary allophone together with , which cannot occur in unstressed syllables. If a sonorant follows in the syllable coda, the schwa often disappears so that the sonorant becomes syllabic, for instance Kiss'en'' ('pillow'), Es'el'' ('donkey'). ** has been variously described as mid near-front unrounded and open-mid front unrounded . ** has been variously described as mid front unrounded and open-mid front unrounded . ** has been variously described as open-mid near-front rounded and somewhat lowered open-mid near-front rounded . Its rounding is compressed. ** has been variously described as open-mid near-back rounded , somewhat fronted open-mid back rounded and open-mid back rounded . Its rounding is protruded. * Open vowels ** is near-open central unrounded . It is a common allophone of the sequence common to all German-speaking areas but Switzerland. ** has been variously described as open front unrounded and open central unrounded . Some scholarsE.g. differentiate two short , namely front and back . . Note that authors state that can be realized as Polish , i.e. central . The latter occurs only in unstressed open syllables, exactly as . *** Front or even is a common realization of in northern German varieties influenced by Low German. ** has been variously described as open central unrounded and open back unrounded . Because of this, it is sometimes transcribed .E.g. by (without length marks, i.e. as - note that the vowel chart on page 87 places and in the same open central position !), (without length marks, i.e. as ) and . *** Back (sometimes even rounded ) is a common realization of in northern German varieties influenced by Low German. ** notes that "there is a tendency to neutralize the distinction between , , and . That is, Oda, Radar, and Oder have final syllables which are perceptually very similar, and are nearly or completely identical in some dialects." He also says that "outside of a word context, cannot be distinguished from . Although there is also a length contrast, vowels are often analyzed according to a tenseness contrast, with long being the tense vowels and short their lax counterparts. Like the English checked vowels, the German lax vowels require a following consonant, with the notable exception of (which is absent in many varieties, as discussed above). is sometimes considered the lax counterpart of tense in order to maintain this tense/lax division. Short occur in unstressed syllables of loanwords, for instance in Ps'y'ch'o'm'''e'trie'' ('psychometry'). They are usually considered allophones of tense vowels, which cannot occur in unstressed syllables (unless in compounds). Northern German varieties influenced by Low German could be analyzed as lacking contrasting vowel quantity entirely: * has a different quality than (see above) * These varieties also consistently lack , and use only in its place. Phonemic status of The long open-mid front unrounded vowel does not exist in many varieties of Standard German and is rendered as the close-mid front unrounded vowel , so that both Äh're ('ear of grain') and Eh're'' ('honor') are pronounced (instead of "Ähre" being ) and both ''Bä'ren ('bears') and B'''ee'ren'' ('berries') are pronounced (instead of "Bären" being ). It is debated whether is a distinct phoneme or even exists (except when consciously self-censoring speech), for several reasons: * The existence of a phoneme is an irregularity in a vowel system that otherwise has pairs of long and tense vs. short and lax vowels such as vs. ; * The use of in Standard German is more due to hypercorrection and the synthetically created pronunciation traditionally used on stage (Bühnendeutsch) than to a consistent dialectal difference. Although some dialects do have an opposition of vs. , there is little agreement across dialects as to exactly which lexical items should be pronounced with and which with ; * The use of is a spelling pronunciation rather than an original feature of the language. It is an attempt to "speak as is printed" (sprechen wie gedruckt) and to differentiate the spellings and (that is, users of the language attempt to justify the appearance of ' and in writing by making them distinct in the spoken language); * Speakers with an otherwise fairly standard idiolect find it rather difficult to utter longer passages with and in the right places; such persons apparently have to picture the spellings of the words in question, which impedes the flow of speech. Diphthongs Phonemic s of standard German, from ]] * has been variously described as ,Source: . On the page 14, the author states that , and are of the same quality as vowels of which they consist. On the page 8, he states that is low central. See vowel chart in . Note that despite their true ending points, Kohler still transcribes them as , i.e. with higher offsets than those actually have. and .Source: . Authors do not provide a vowel chart. Rather, they state rather vaguely that "the diphthong is a monosyllabic compound consisting of the unrounded open vowel and the unrounded mid front vowel ." * has been variously described as , , and .Source: . Authors do not provide a vowel chart. Rather, they state rather vaguely that "the diphthong is a monosyllabic compound consisting of the unrounded open vowel and the rounded mid back vowel ." * has been variously described as , , and . . Authors do not provide a vowel chart. Rather, they state rather vaguely that "the diphthong is a monosyllabic compound consisting of the rounded mid back vowel and the rounded mid front vowel ." The process of smoothing is absent from standard German, so the sequences are never pronounced * or * . Phonetic Marginally, there are other diphthongs, for instance * in interjections such as pf'ui , The following usually are not counted among the German diphthongs as German speakers often feel they are distinct marks of "foreign words" (Fremdwörter). These appear only in loanwords: * , as in Cr'oi'ssant , colloquially: . * states that many speakers of German will use the expression ok with as a possible pronunciation quite frequently, and that alternatively, and can be monophthongized to and , respectively. However, neither nor recognize these as phonemes. Instead, they prescribe pronunciations with, respectively, and in each loanword from English containing and . In the varieties where speakers vocalize to in the syllable coda, a diphthong ending in may be formed with every vowel except and : : notes that the length contrast is not very stable before non-prevocalic and that " , following the pronouncing dictionaries ( , ) judge the vowel in Art, Schwert, Fahrt to be long, while the vowel in Ort, Furcht, hart is supposed to be short. The factual basis of this presumed distinction seems very questionable."Also supported by . He goes on stating that in his own dialect, there is no length difference in these words, and that judgements on vowel length in front of non-prevocalic which is itself vocalized are problematic, in particular if precedes. :According to the 'lengthless' analysis, the aforementioned 'long' diphthongs are analyzed as , , , , , , and . This makes non-prevocalic and homophonous as or . Non-prevocalic and may also merge, but the vowel chart in shows that they have somewhat different starting points - open-mid front for the former, raised open-mid retracted front for the latter. : also states that "laxing of the vowel is predicted to take place in shortened vowels; it does indeed seem to go hand in hand with the vowel shortening in many cases." This leads to , , , , , being pronounced more similar to , , , , , . Consonants With approximately 25 phonemes, the German consonant system has an average number of consonants in comparison with other languages. One of the more noteworthy ones is the unusual affricate .For a detailed discussion of the German consonants from a synchronic and diachronic point of view, see . :Notes * is bilabial–labiodental , rather than purely labiodental . * can be apical alveolar , , , ]}}, . According to this source, only can be apical alveolar. . According to this source, only can be apical alveolar.See the x-ray tracing of in , based on data from . laminal alveolar , , , ]}} . According to this source, only can be laminal alveolar. or laminal denti-alveolar , , , ]}}. . According to this source, only can be laminal denti-alveolar. See the x-ray tracing of in , based on data from . The other possible pronunciation of that has been reported to occur in unstressed intervocalic positions is retroflex . Austrian German often uses the laminal denti-alveolar articulation. ** is always clear , as in most Irish English accents. A few Austrian accents may use a velarized instead, but that is considered non-standard. * can be laminal alveolar , , ]}}, . This source talks only about . This source talks only about . laminal post-dental , , ]}} (i.e. fronted alveolar, articulated with the blade of the tongue just behind upper front teeth), or even apical alveolar , , ]}}. Austrian German often uses the post-dental articulation. are always strongly fricated. * are strongly labialized palato-alveolar sibilants ʷ, ʷ, ʷ, ʷ}}~ ʷ, ʷ, ʷ, ʷ}}. are fricated more weakly than . There are two variants of these sounds: **Laminal, articulated with the foremost part of the blade of the tongue approaching the foremost part of the hard palate, with the tip of the tongue resting behind either upper or lower front teeth. **Apico-laminal, articulated with the tip of the tongue approaching the gums and the foremost part of the blade approaching the foremost part of the hard palate. According to , this variant is used more frequently. * are used only in loanwords, mostly from English, such as Thriller , though some speakers substitute with any of and with any of . There are two variants of these sounds: ** Apical post-dental, articulated with the tip of the tongue approaching the upper incisors. ** Apical interdental, articulated with the tip of the tongue between the upper and lower incisors. * has a number of possible realizations: ** Voiced apical coronal trill/tap , }}, either alveolar, articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, or dental, articulated with the tip of the tongue against the back of the upper front teeth. *** Distribution: Common in the south (Bavaria and many parts of Switzerland and Austria), but it is also found in some speakers in central and northern Germany, especially the elderly. ** Voiced uvular trill . According to it is often a tap intervocalically, as in Eh'r'e''. *** Distribution: Occurs in some conservative varieties - most speakers with a uvular realize it as a fricative or an approximant. ** Dorsal continuant, about the quality of which there is not a complete agreement: *** describe two fricative variants, namely post-palatal and velar . The post-palatal variant appears before and after front vowels, while the velar variant is used in all other positions. *** describe it as voiced post-velar fricative . *** and describe it as voiced uvular fricative ; writes that "the place of articulation of the consonant varies from uvular in e.g. ''rot 'red' to velar in e.g. treten 'kick', depending on back or front vowel contexts." He also notes that is devoiced after voiceless plosives and fricatives, especially those within the same word, giving the word treten 'to kick' as an example. According to this author, can be reduced to an approximant in an intervocalic position. *** describe it as a uvular fricative or approximant . The latter is less likely to occur word-initially. *** Distribution: Almost all areas apart from Bavaria and parts of Switzerland. ** Near-open central unrounded vowel is a post-vocalic allophone of (mostly dorsal) varieties of . The non-syllabic variant of it is not always near-open or central. *** Distribution: Widespread, but less common in Switzerland. *The voiceless stops , , are aspirated except when preceded by a sibilant. Many southern dialects do not aspirate , and some northern ones do so only in a stressed position. The voiceless affricates , , and are never aspirated, and neither are any other consonants besides the aforementioned . *The obstruents are voiceless lenis in southern varieties, and they contrast with voiceless fortis . *In Austria, intervocalic can be lenited to fricatives , , }} in casual speech. *There isn't a complete agreement about the nature of ; it has been variously described as a fricative , . The authors transcribe it , i.e. as an approximant. . The author transcribes it , i.e. as an approximant. a fricative, which can be fricated less strongly than , . The author transcribes it , i.e. as an approximant. and an approximant . *In standard usage and careful speech, occurs before word stems that begin with a vowel. Although not usually considered a phoneme, it may have phonemic value: will ich ("will I") vs. willig ("willing"). In colloquial and dialectal speech, however, is very often omitted, especially when the word beginning with a vowel is unstressed. *The phonemic status of affricates is controversial. The majority view accepts and , but not ~ or the non-native ~ ; somee.g. accept none, some accept all but ~ , and somee.g. accept all. ~ and ~ occur only in words of foreign origin. In certain varieties, they are replaced by ~ and ~ altogether. * is occasionally considered to be an allophone of , especially in southern varieties of German. * and are traditionally regarded as allophones after front vowels and back vowels, respectively. For a more detailed analysis see below at [[#Ich-Laut and ach-Laut|''ich-Laut'' and ach-Laut]]. According to some analyses, is an allophone of after and according to some also after . *Some phonologists deny the phoneme and use instead along with instead of . The phoneme sequence is realized as when can start a valid onset of the next syllable whose nucleus is a vowel other than unstressed , , or . It becomes otherwise. For example: **''Diphthong'' **''diphthongieren'' **''Englisch'' **''Anglo'' **''Ganges'' ~ ''Ich-Laut'' and ach-Laut Ich-Laut is the voiceless palatal fricative (which is found in the word ich 'I'), and ach-Laut is voiceless velar fricative (which is found in the word ach the interjection 'oh', 'alas'). Note that Laut is the German word for 'sound, phone'. In German, these two sounds are allophones occurring in complementary distribution. The allophone occurs after back vowels and (for instance in Buch 'book'), the allophone after front vowels (for instance in mich 'me/myself') and consonants (for instance in Furcht 'fear', manchmal 'sometimes'). (This happens most regularly: if the r'' in "Furcht" is pronounced as a consonant, ''ch is pronounced as ; however if, as often happens, it is vocalized as , resembling the vowel , then ch may be realized as , yielding .) In loanwords, the pronunciation of potential fricatives in onsets of stressed syllables vary: in the Northern varieties of standard German, it is , while in Southern varieties, it is , and in Western varieties, it is ~ (for instance in China: vs. vs. ). The diminutive suffix ''-chen'' is always pronounced with an ich-Laut . Usually, this ending triggers umlaut (compare for instance Hund 'dog' to Hündchen 'little dog'), so theoretically, it could only occur after front vowels. However, in some comparatively recent coinings, there is no longer an umlaut, for instance in the word Frauchen (a diminutive of Frau 'woman'), so that a back vowel is followed by , even though normally it would be followed by a , as in rauchen 'to smoke'. This exception to the allophonic distribution may be an effect of the morphemic boundary or an example of phonemicization, where erstwhile allophones undergo a split into separate phonemes. The allophonic distribution of after front vowels and after other vowels is also found in other languages, such as Scots, in the pronunciation of light. However, it is by no means inevitable: Dutch, Yiddish, and many Southern German dialects retain (which can be realized as instead) in all positions. It is thus reasonable to assume that Old High German ih, the ancestor of modern ich, was pronounced with rather than . While it is impossible to know for certain whether Old English words such as niht (modern night) were pronounced with or , is likely (see Old English phonology). Despite the phonetic history, the complementary distribution of and in modern Standard German is better described as backing of after a back vowel, rather than fronting of after a front vowel, because is used in onsets (Chemie 'chemistry') and after consonants (Molch 'newt'), and is thus the underlying form of the phoneme. This is an example of assimilation. According to Kohler, and , as cited in the German ach-Laut is further differentiated into two allophones, and : occurs after (for instance in Buch 'book') and after (for instance in Bach 'brook'), while either or may occur after , with predominating. Fortis–lenis pairs Various German consonants occur in pairs at the same place of articulation and in the same manner of articulation, namely the pairs , , , , . These pairs are often called fortis–lenis pairs, since describing them as voiced–voiceless pairs is inadequate. With certain qualifications, , are also considered fortis–lenis pairs. states that a fortis-lenis distinction for is unimportant. The fortis stops are aspirated in most varieties. The aspiration is strongest in the onset of a stressed syllable (such as Taler 'thaler'), weaker in the onset of an unstressed syllable (such as Vater 'father'), and weakest in the syllable coda (such as in Saat 'seed'). All fortis consonants, i.e. are fully voiceless. The lenis consonants range from being weakly voiced to almost voiceless after voiceless consonants: Kas'b'ah 'kasbah', ab'd'anken 'to resign', rot'g'elb 'red-yellow', Ab'w'urf 'dropping', Ab's'icht 'intention', Holz'j'alousie 'wooden jalousie', weg'j'agen 'to chase away', t'''r'opfen'' 'to drop', Obst'j'uice 'fruit juice'. states that they are 'to a large extent voiced' in all other environments, but some studies have found the stops to be voiceless word/utterance-initially in most dialects (while still contrasting with due to the aspiration of the latter). are voiceless in most southern varieties of German. For clarity, they are often transcribed as , although would also be valid (as in Icelandic). The nature of the phonetic difference between the voiceless lenis consonants and the similarly voiceless fortis consonants is controversial. It is generally described as a difference in articulatory force, and occasionally as a difference in articulatory length; for the most part, it is assumed that one of these characteristics implies the other. In various central and southern varieties, the opposition between fortis and lenis is neutralized in the syllable onset; sometimes just in the onset of stressed syllables, sometimes in all cases. The pair is not considered a fortis–lenis pair, but a simple voiceless–voiced pair, as remains voiced in all varieties, including the Southern varieties that devoice the lenes (with however some exceptions. can devoice in nearly every place once the word has become common; ''w is devoiced in Möwe, Löwe. On the other hand, the keeping to the variety is so standard that doof induced the writing "(der) doofe" even though the standard pronunciation of the latter word is Generally, the southern is realized as the voiced approximant . However there are southern varieties which differentiate between a fortis (such as in sträflich 'culpable' from Middle High German stræflich) and a lenis ( , such as in höflich 'polite' from Middle High German hovelîch); this is analogous to the opposition of fortis ( ) and lenis . Coda devoicing In most varieties of German, the lenis stops are unvoiced or at most variably voiced (as stated above). Therefore, it would be inaccurate to say that they devoice at the end of a syllable. It is more accurate to say that the opposition between fortis and lenis is neutralized in the syllable coda. (Truly voiced stops, as implied by the transcription , are found most often in Central German varieties. Some of these even use unaspirated fortis stops in either all or some environments.) Fricatives are truly and contrastively voiced by most speakers. Therefore, these do undergo coda devoicing. It is disputed whether coda devoicing is due to a constraint which specifically operates on syllable codas or whether it arises from constraints which "protect voicing in privileged positions." For those southern speakers who do not use voiced fricatives, again there is no devoicing, but rather fortis-lenis neutralization (as with stops). As against standard pronunciation rules, in western varieties including those of the Rhineland, coda fortis–lenis neutralization results in voicing rather than devoicing if the following word begins with a vowel. For example, mit uns becomes and darf ich becomes . The same sandhi phenomenon exists also as a general rule in the Luxembourgish language. In a few southern varieties of German, such as Swiss German, neither coda devoicing nor coda fortis-lenis neutralization occurs. Stress Stress in German usually falls on the first syllable, with the following exceptions: * Many loanwords, especially proper names, keep their original stress. E.g. Obama * Nouns formed with Latinate suffixes, such as ''-ant, -anz, -enz, -ion, -ismus, -ist, -ment, -tät'': Idealismus 'idealism', Konsonant 'consonant', Tourist 'tourist' * Verbs formed with the Latinate suffix -ieren, e.g. studieren 'to study'. This is often pronounced in casual speech. * Compound adverbs, with her, hin, da, or wo as their first syllable part, receive stress on their second syllable, e.g. dagegen 'on the other hand', woher 'from where' Moreover, German makes a distinction in stress between separable prefixes (stress on prefix) and inseparable prefixes (stress on root) in verbs and words derived from such verbs. Therefore: * Words beginning with be-'', ''ge-'', ''er-'', ''ver-'', ''zer-'', ''ent-'', ''emp-'' and a few others receive stress on the second syllable. * Words having ''ab-'', ''auf-'', ''ein-'', ''vor-'' as verb prefix, and most other prepositional adverbs receive stress on their first syllable. * Some prefixes, notably ''über-'', ''unter-'', ''um-'', and ''durch-'', can function as separable or inseparable prefixes, and are stressed and unstressed accordingly. * Rarely, two homographs with such prefixes are formed. They are not strictly homophones. Consider the word, ''umschreiben. As um•schreiben (separable prefix), it means 'to rewrite', and is pronounced , and its associated noun, die Umschreibung also receives stress on the first syllable - . On the other hand, umschreiben (inseparable prefix) is pronounced . This word means 'to circumscribe', and its associated noun, die Umschreibung ('circumscription') also receives stress on the second syllable - . Another example is the word umfahren. With stress on the root ( ) it means 'to drive around (an obstacle in the street)', and with stress on the prefix ( ) it means 'to drive over' or 'to collide with (an object on the street).' Acquisition General Like all infants, German infants go through a babbling stage in the early phases of phonological acquisition, during which they produce the sounds they will later use in their first words. Phoneme inventories begin with stops, nasals, and vowels; (contrasting) short vowels and liquids appear next, followed by fricatives and affricates, and finally all other consonants and consonant clusters. Children begin to produce protowords near the end of their first year. These words do not approximate adult forms, yet have a specific and consistent meaning. Early word productions are phonetically simple and usually follow the syllable structure CV or CVC, although this generalization has been challenged. The first vowels produced are , , and , followed by , , and , with rounded vowels emerging last. German children often use phonological processes to simplify their early word production. For example, they may delete an unstressed syllable (Schokolade ‘chocolate’ pronounced ), or replace a fricative with a corresponding stop (Dach ‘roof’ pronounced ). One case study found that a 17-month-old child acquiring German replaced the voiceless velar fricative with the nearest available continuant , or deleted it altogether (Buch ‘book’ pronounced or ). Vowel space development In 2009, Lintfert examined the development of vowel space of German speakers in their first three years of life. During the babbling stage, vowel distribution has no clear pattern. However, stressed and unstressed vowels already show different distributions in the vowel space. Once word production begins, stressed vowels expand in the vowel space, while the F1-F2 vowel space of unstressed vowels becomes more centralized. The majority of infants are then capable of stable production of F1. It should be noted that the variability of formant frequencies among individuals decreases with age. After 24 months, infants expand their vowel space individually at different rates. However, if the parents’ utterances possess a well-defined vowel space, their children produce clearly distinguished vowel classes earlier. By about three years old, children command the production of all vowels, and they attempt to produce the four cardinal vowels, , , and , at the extreme limits of the F1-F2 vowel space (i.e., the height and backness of the vowels are made extreme by the infants). Grammatical words Generally, closed-class grammatical words (e.g. articles and prepositions) are absent from children’s speech when they first begin to combine words. However, children as young as 18 months old show knowledge of these closed-class words when they prefer stories with them, compared to passages with them omitted. Therefore, the absence of these grammatical words cannot be due to perceptual problems. Researchers tested children’s comprehension of four grammatical words: bis ] ‘up to’, von ‘from’, das ‘the' (neuter singular), and sein ‘his’. After first being familiarized with the words, eight-month-old children looked longer in the direction of a speaker playing a text passage that contained these previously heard words. However, this ability is absent in six-month-olds. Nasals The acquisition of nasals in German differs from that of Dutch, a phonologically closely related language. German children produce proportionately more nasals in onset position (sounds before a vowel in a syllable) than Dutch children do. German children, once they reached 16 months old, also produced significantly more nasals in syllables containing schwas, when compared with Dutch-speaking children. This may reflect differences in the languages the children are being exposed to, although the researchers claim that the development of nasals likely cannot be seen apart from the more general phonological system the child is developing. Phonotactic constraints and reading A 2006 study examined the acquisition of German in phonologically delayed children (specifically, issues with fronting of velars and stopping of fricatives) and whether they applied phonotactic constraints to word-initial consonant clusters containing these modified consonants. In many cases, the subjects (mean age = 5;1) avoided making phonotactic violations, opting instead for other consonants or clusters in their speech. This suggests that phonotactic constraints do apply to the speech of German children with phonological delay, at least in the case of word-initial consonant clusters. Additional research has also shown that spelling consistencies seen in German raise children’s phonemic awareness as they acquire reading skills. Sound changes Sound changes and mergers A merger found mostly in Northern accents of German is that of (spelled ä, äh) with (spelled e'', ''ee, or eh). Some speakers merge the two everywhere, some distinguish them everywhere, others keep distinct only in conditional forms of strong verbs (for example ich gäbe 'I would give' vs. ich gebe 'I give' are distinguished, but Bären 'bears' vs. Beeren 'berries' are not. Standard pronunciation of Bären is ). Another common merger is that of at the end of a syllable with or respectively , for instance Krieg ('war'), but Kriege ('wars'); er lag ('he lay'), but wir lagen ('we lay'). This pronunciation is frequent all over central and northern Germany. It is characteristic of regional languages and dialects, particularly Low German in the North, where ‹g› represents a fricative, becoming voiceless in the syllable coda, as is common in German (Final-obstruent devoicing). However common it is, this pronunciation is considered sub-standard. Only in one case, in the grammatical ending ''-ig'' (which corresponds to English ''-y''), the fricative pronunciation of final ‹g› is prescribed by the Siebs standard, for instance wichtig ('important'). The merger occurs neither in Austro-Bavarian and Alemannic German nor in the corresponding varieties of Standard German, and therefore in these regions ''-ig'' is pronounced . Many speakers do not distinguish the affricate from the simple fricative in the beginning of a word. The verb (er) fährt ('he travels') and the noun Pferd ('horse') are then equally pronounced . This occurs especially in regions where did not originally occur in the local dialects, i.e. northern and western Germany. Some speakers also have peculiar pronunciation for in the middle or end of a word, replacing the in with a voiceless bilabial fricative, i.e. a consonant produced by pressing air flow through the tensed lips. Thereby Tropfen 'drop' becomes , rather than . Many speakers (especially in the North) who have a vocalization of after , merge this combination with long (i.e. > > or ). Hereby, Schaf ('sheep') and scharf ('sharp') can both be pronounced . This merger does not occur where is realised as a back vowel, thus keeping the words distinct as and . However, in both Bavarian and Franconian dialects, the latter would always be pronounced with a distinct sound. Furthermore, in umlaut forms, the difference usually reoccurs: Schäfer vs. schärfer . Speakers with this merger also often use (instead of formally normal ) where it stems from original . The word Archen ('arks') is thus pronounced , which makes a minimal pair with Aachen , making the difference between and phonemic, rather than just allophonic, for these speakers. In the standard pronunciation, the vowel qualities , , , , as well as , , , , are all still distinguished even in unstressed syllables. In this latter case, however, many simplify the system in various degrees. For some speakers, this may go so far as to merge all four into one, whence misspellings by schoolchildren such as Bräut'e'gam (instead of Bräut'i'gam) or Port'o'gal (instead of Port'u'gal). In everyday speech, more mergers occur, some of which are universal and some of which are typical for certain regions or dialect backgrounds. Overall, there is a strong tendency of reduction and contraction. For example, long vowels may be shortened, consonant clusters may be simplified, word-final may be dropped in some cases, and the suffix ''-en'' may be contracted with preceding consonants, e.g. for haben ('to have'). When stops occur between two nasals (one being syllabic), they may be replaced by a glottal stop though they still determine the nature of the nasal. Thus, Lampen ('lamps') changes from to ; speakers are often unaware of this. If the clusters , , , or are followed by another consonant, the stops , and usually lose their phonemic status. Thus while the standard pronunciation distinguishes ganz ("whole") from Gans , as well as er sinkt from er singt , the two pairs are homophones for most speakers. The commonest practice is to drop the stop (thus , for both words), but some speakers insert the stop where it is not etymological ( , for both words), or they alternate between the two ways. Only few speakers retain a phonemic distinction. Middle High German The Middle High German vowels and developed into the modern Standard German diphthong , whereas and developed into . For example, Middle High German heiz and wîz ('hot' and 'white') became Standard German heiß and weiß . In other dialects, the Middle High German vowels developed differently: Bavarian hoaß and weiß, Ripuarian heeß and wieß, Swiss German heiss and wiiss , Yiddish heys and vays . The Middle High German diphthongs , and became the modern Standard German long vowels , and after the Middle High German long vowels changed to diphthongs. In most Upper German dialects, the diphthongs are retained. A remnant of their former diphthong character is shown when continues to be written ie in German (as in Liebe 'love'). Incorporation of Loanwords German incorporates a significant number of loanwords from other languages. Loanwords are often adapted to German phonology, but to varying degrees, depending on the speaker and the commonness of the word. and do not occur in native German words, but are common in a number of French and English loan words. Many speakers replace them with and respectively (especially in Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland), so that Dschungel (from English jungle) can be pronounced or . Some speakers in Northern and Western Germany merge with , so that Journalist (phonemically /(d͡ʒ~d͡ʑ)ʊʁnaˈlɪst ~ (ʒ~ʑ)ʊʁnaˈlɪst/) can be pronounced , or . The realization of as is uncommon though.http://prowiki.ids-mannheim.de/bin/view/AADG/ZhimAnlaut Loanwords from English A large number of English words is used in German, especially in technology and pop culture. Some speakers pronounce them similar to their native pronunciation, but many speakers change non-native phonemes to similar-sounding German phonemes. Some common realizations: * English are usually pronounced as in RP or General American; some speakers replace them with and respectively e.g. Thriller . * English can be pronounced the same as in English, i.e. , or as the corresponding native German e.g. Rock or . German and Austrian speakers tend to be variably rhotic. * English is often replaced with German e.g. Whiskey . * word-initial is often retained (especially in the South, where word-initial is common),http://prowiki.ids-mannheim.de/bin/view/AADG/SimAnlaut but many speakers replace it with e.g. Sound . * word-initial and are usually retained, but some speakers (especially in South Western Germany and Western Austria) replace them with and respectively e.g. Steak or , Spray or .http://prowiki.ids-mannheim.de/bin/view/AADG/SteakSprayStSp * English is usually retained, but in Northern and Western Germany and Luxembourg is often replaced with e.g. Chips .http://prowiki.ids-mannheim.de/bin/view/AADG/ChipsCh * Final-obstruent devoicing is applied to English loan words too e.g. Airbag , Lord or , Backstage . * English and are often replaced with and respectively e.g. Homepage . * English and are pronounced the same, as German (met–mat merger) e.g. Backup . * English and are pronounced the same, as German (cot–caught merger) e.g. Box . * English is usually pronounced as German e.g. Cutter . * English is usually pronounced as German e.g. Shirt or . * English is pronounced as German (happy-tensing) e.g. Whiskey . Sample The sample text is a reading of The North Wind and the Sun. The phonemic transcription treats every instance of and as and , respectively. The phonetic transcription is a fairly narrow transcription of the educated northern accent. The speaker transcribed in the narrow transcription is 62 years old, and he is reading in a colloquial style. Aspiration, glottal stops and devoicing of the lenes after voiceless consonants are not transcribed. Phonemic transcription veːr fɔn iːnən ˈbaɪ̯dən voːl deːr ˈ(ʃ~ɕ)tɛrkərə vɛːrə als aɪ̯n ˈvandərər deːr ɪn aɪ̯nən ˈvarmən ˈmantəl gəˌhʏlt var dɛs ˈveːgəs daˈheːrkaːm ziː vʊrdən ˈaɪ̯nɪç das ˈdeːrˌjeːnɪgə fyːr deːn ˈ(ʃ~ɕ)tɛrkərən ˌɡɛltən zɔltə deːr deːn ˈvandərər ˈt͡svɪŋən vʏrdə zaɪ̯nən ˈmantəl ˈapt͡suːˌneːmən deːr ˈnɔrtvɪnt bliːs mɪt ˈalər ˈmaxt aːbər jeː ˈmeːr eːr ˈbliːs dɛstoː ˈfɛstər ˈhʏltə zɪç deːr ˈvandərər ɪn zaɪ̯nən ˈmantəl aɪ̯n ˈɛntlɪç gaːp deːr ˈnɔrtvɪnt deːn ˈkamp͡f ˈaʊ̯f nuːn ɛrˈvɛrmtə diː ˈzɔnə diː ˈlʊft mɪt iːrən ˈfrɔʏ̯ntlɪçən ˈ(ʃ~ɕ)traːlən ʊnt ˈ(ʃ~ɕ)oːnax ˈveːnɪgən ˈaʊ̯gənˌblɪkən t͡soːk deːr ˈvandərər zaɪ̯nən ˈmantəl aʊ̯s da mʊstə deːr ˈnɔrtvɪnt ˈt͡suːgeːbən das diː ˈzɔnə fɔn iːnən baɪ̯dən deːr ˈ(ʃ~ɕ)tɛrkərə var/}}In Standard Swiss German, sich, Nordwind, und, endlich, gab, einig, freundlichen and zog are pronounced , , , , , , and , respectively. In Standard Austrian German, Nordwind, und, endlich, gab, einig, freundlichen and zog are pronounced , , , , , and , respectively. Phonetic transcription veːɐ̯ fən iːm ˈbaɪ̯dn̩ voːl dɐ ˈ(ʃ~ɕ)tɛɐ̯kəʁə veːʁə als aɪ̯n ˈvandəʁɐ dɛɐ̯ ɪn aɪ̯n ˈvaɐ̯m ˈmantl̩ gəˌhʏlt vaɐ̯ dəs ˈveːgəs daˈheːɐ̯kaːm zɪ vʊɐ̯dn̩ ˈaɪ̯nɪç das ˈdeːɐ̯ˌjeːnɪgə fʏɐ̯ dən ˈ(ʃ~ɕ)tɛɐ̯kəʁən ˌɡɛltn̩ zɔltə dɛɐ̯ dən ˈvandəʁɐ ˈt͡svɪŋː vʏɐ̯də zaɪ̯m ˈmantl̩ ˈapt͡suːˌneːmː dɛɐ̯ ˈnɔɐ̯tvɪm ˈbliːs mɪt ˈalɐ ˈmaχt abɐ jeː ˈmeːɐ̯ ɛɐ̯ ˈbliːs dɛstoː ˈfɛstɐ ˈhʏltə zɪç dɐ ˈvandəʁɐ ɪn zaɪ̯m ˈmantl̩ aɪ̯n ˈɛntlɪç gaːp dɐ ˈnɔɐ̯tvɪn dəŋ ˈkamp͡f ˈaʊ̯f nuːn ɛɐ̯ˈvɛɐ̯mtə dɪ ˈzɔnə dɪ ˈlʊfp mɪt iːɐ̯n ˈfʁɔʏ̯ntlɪçn̩ ˈ(ʃ~ɕ)tʁaːln ʊn ˈ(ʃ~ɕ)oːnaχ ˈveːnɪgŋ̍ ˈaʊ̯gŋ̍ˌblɪkŋ̍ t͡soːk dɐ ˈvandəʁɐ zaɪ̯m ˈmantl̩ aʊ̯s da mʊstə dɐ ˈnɔɐ̯tvɪn ˈt͡suːgeːbm̩ das dɪ ˈzɔnə fən iːm baɪ̯dn̩ dɐ ˈ(ʃ~ɕ)tɛɐ̯kəʁə vaɐ̯}}Source: . Note that in the original transcription the vowel length is not indicated, apart from where it is phonemic - that is, for the pairs - and - . Orthographic version Einst stritten sich Nordwind und Sonne, wer von ihnen beiden wohl der Stärkere wäre, als ein Wanderer, der in einen warmen Mantel gehüllt war, des Weges daherkam. Sie wurden einig, dass derjenige für den Stärkeren gelten sollte, der den Wanderer zwingen würde, seinen Mantel abzunehmen. Der Nordwind blies mit aller Macht, aber je mehr er blies, desto fester hüllte sich der Wanderer in seinen Mantel ein. Endlich gab der Nordwind den Kampf auf. Nun erwärmte die Sonne die Luft mit ihren freundlichen Strahlen, und schon nach wenigen Augenblicken zog der Wanderer seinen Mantel aus. Da musste der Nordwind zugeben, dass die Sonne von ihnen beiden der Stärkere war. See also *German orthography Notes References * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Further reading * * * * External links * Listen to the pronunciation of German first names Category:German phonology Category:Language phonologies